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Dr. Julian Lewis (New Forest, East): Several of the schools that my hon. Friend has listed are actually in my constituency. I have a copy of a letter from Mr. Underwood, headmaster of Hardley school, to the chairman of the county council. Elaborating the thesis that my hon. Friend has advanced, he says:
- "It is our contention that all schools"--
Mr. Swayne: I thank my hon. Friend the Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis). Of course I am aware that Hardley school is in his constituency. He will be aware that, this year, as a consequence of this funding settlement, the school will have to function with 4.2 per cent. fewer teachers. It will be implementing a cut of some 20 per cent. in its funding of educational resources and it will have to spend its entire reserve, built up over nine years. Next year, if it loses its cash protection of £85,000, those problems will be compounded.
Mr. Christopher Chope (Christchurch): Does my hon. Friend agree that the same points apply to Highcliffe comprehensive school in my constituency, which is attended by many of his constituents?
Mr. Swayne: That is indeed the case. The principal problem that is highlighted by the headmasters is that the
key central add-on is not being fully replicated in the new extension of the local management of schools settlement. The money is not being passed on to the schools.
Dr. Julian Lewis: Will my hon. Friend give way?
Mr. Swayne: If my hon. Friend will allow me, I must make progress.
This issue touches on the bureaucracy surrounding the local education authority, which I shall attend to in a moment.
When I drew the Minister's attention to the problem on 10 June 1999, I said that some schools had even introduced a measure of charging for lessons, which gave her an opportunity to lecture me on the nature of the law and gave rise to some very unwelcome press attention on those schools. On that occasion, I referred to charging for keyboard musical skills, which one school in my constituency had had to introduce as an understandable but regrettable consequence of the settlement. It is not breaking the law.
I now draw attention to the problems of the Arnewood school in my constituency. The Minister will be aware that we have a shortage of secondary schools in south-west Hampshire. It is very difficult to get into the Arnewood school, despite all sorts of expedients in the past few years to increase the capacity of the school. Even children living at the gates of the school who meet all the high priority criteria for entry to that school must be bussed to the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) and cannot get into the school.
On 7 April, the headmaster wrote to me:
In addition to the loss of funding, the damage done to grant-maintained schools is compounded by their finding themselves back under the dead hand of the local education authority's bureaucracy, from which they thought they had escaped. To give the House a taste of that, I shall treat it to a vignette, for which I am indebted to the headmistress of the Burgate school, who provided me with it. The letter is from Hampshire education authority.
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. I gave the hon. Gentleman some leeway in allowing him to read out the entire contents of a headmaster's letter. I would not appreciate another letter being read into the record. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will paraphrase the letter from the education authority.
Mr. Swayne:
I shall be brief, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
The letter is about the need to measure the floor space of grant-maintained schools. It explains why it is necessary to measure the floor space and adds, happily, that this feast of floor measurement will be an annual occurrence.
Before headmasters resign in horror, they should thank their lucky stars and count themselves fortunate that they live in Hampshire, which, despite the absurd machinations of the floor-measuring department, is a very good local authority. Hampshire emerged rather well from the statistics published last week. It passes on more than the entire standard spending assessment to schools. Administrative costs are only £76 per pupil in Hampshire, compared with the national average of £82. Hampshire consulted widely before deciding what proportion of its funds would be delegated to schools and what it would retain. The Minister must appreciate, however, that, last year, grant-maintained schools enjoyed 100 per cent. of their budgets and not, as this year, 85.2 per cent., with some services in kind, which the schools may not require and may not value.
Nothing could illustrate more graphically the policy blunder into which the Secretary of State has stumbled than the release last week of statistics and the attempt to name and shame local authorities. The principal instrument of raising school standards chosen by the Government is local education authorities. Their record on school standards is not a glorious one. Although the dispute has degenerated into an argument between the Secretary of State and the Local Government Association about how accurate the figures are, it is clear that the Secretary of State has a measure of reserve about the competence and motives of education authorities. Why did he bring grant-maintained schools, which were enjoying an efficient means of funding, back into the less efficient method of funding of local authority schools?
The Minister for School Standards (Ms Estelle Morris):
First, I congratulate the hon. Member for New Forest, West (Mr. Swayne) on securing this debate and thereby giving me a longer time than I ever have when responding to Education questions to contribute to a debate that started with correspondence that has continued throughout the year.
Secondly, I acknowledge the interest shown by the hon. Gentleman's neighbouring colleagues, the hon. Members for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) and for New Forest,
East (Dr. Lewis). I accept that they wish to do the best for the children in their constituencies. However we might differ about the different funding of education, I acknowledge a deep-seated commitment on both sides of the House in recognising that the future of our children matters. That is why it is so important to get school funding and what happens in school correct.
It was interesting to listen to the hon. Member for New Forest, West. There are 30 schools in his constituency, of which about half a dozen are grant maintained. It is interesting also that, although he spoke for slightly more than 15 minutes, he said not one word about any of the schools in his constituency that are not grant maintained. I applaud, as does the hon. Gentleman, the high standards that are attained by the GM schools in his constituency, and everywhere else. However, I wish to acknowledge--the hon. Gentleman failed to do this--the high standards that are achieved by many schools in his constituency that are not grant maintained, and have not had favourable funding in recent years. It is a cause for celebration wherever there is excellence, and not merely because excellence happens to be in GM schools. I regret that, in that regard, the hon. Gentleman's speech was somewhat one sided.
Mr. Swayne:
Will the Minister acknowledge that local education authority schools in Hampshire are enjoying an increased settlement this year as a result of the improved locally managed formula? The problem is being faced by the grant-maintained schools, and that is why I dwelt on them.
"I would like to draw your attention to the very significant funding difficulties that the Arnewood school is facing at the start of the new financial year. In general terms, we anticipate a drop in income this financial year of some £400,000, this with a level of protected funding without which in 2000-01 we can expect a cut of a further £200,000. In crude terms, this is a total loss of £600,000 over two financial years, which would mean losing 25 teaching staff."
I know, and the Minister knows, that not all those problems arise from the change in the funding of the schools. For example, £185,000-worth of the problem is the consequence of a mistaken formula used in the past for predicting the capitation of the Arnewood school. Nevertheless, the bald facts that the headmaster sets out in his letter are true.
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